Hindus for Human Rights Co-Founders Sunita Viswanath and Raju Rajagopal to Join 2025 Selma Bridge Crossing Jubilee

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Hindus for Human Rights Co-Founders Sunita Viswanath and Raju Rajagopal to Join 2025 Selma Bridge Crossing Jubilee

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
March 6, 2025

Hindus for Human Rights (HfHR) Co-Founders Sunita Viswanath and Raju Rajagopal will be in Selma, Alabama, beginning Thursday, March 6, to participate in the annual Selma Bridge Crossing Jubilee, commemorating the 60th anniversary of Bloody Sunday and the ongoing fight to preserve voting rights.

part of the first ever Indian Delegation at the Edmund Pettus Bridge in 2022

Affectionately called “The Jubilee,” this annual gathering honors the brave civil rights activists who, on March 7, 1965, attempted to march from Selma to Montgomery to demand the right to vote. As they crossed the Edmund Pettus Bridge, the peaceful demonstrators—led by John Lewis and Hosea Williams—were brutally attacked by Alabama state troopers and local law enforcement. The shocking violence of Bloody Sunday galvanized national support for the civil rights movement and directly led to the passage of the Voting Rights Act of 1965.

Hindus for Human Rights has a deep commitment to this ongoing struggle for justice. In 2021, Raju Rajagopal played an important role in the organizing committee for the virtual Jubilee. The following year, in 2022, HfHR led the first-ever Indian American delegation to the Bridge Crossing Jubilee—a multi-faith, multi-caste coalition that included Dalit Solidarity Forum, Indian American Muslim Council, and India Civil Watch International.

This year, Sunita Viswanath and Raju Rajagopal return to Selma, recognizing the profound debt that South Asian Americans owe to the Black civil rights movement. The foundational philosophy of Satyagraha, developed by Mahatma Gandhi in India’s independence struggle, directly inspired the nonviolent resistance strategies of Dr. Martin Luther King Jr., John Lewis, and other civil rights leaders. The philosophical exchange between movements was not without creative tension—just as Gandhi and Ambedkar clashed over caste and the limits of nonviolence, so too did Martin Luther King Jr. and Malcolm X embody contrasting yet complementary visions for Black liberation. These tensions, rather than dividing the movements, served to sharpen their strategies and expand the possibilities of justice, offering vital lessons for today’s diverse struggles for freedom and dignity. In turn, the global success of the U.S. civil rights movement reshaped social justice struggles worldwide, including Dalit rights activism in India and anti-caste movements across the diaspora.

At a time when voting rights are once again under attack in the United States and democracy is under siege globally, HfHR stands in solidarity with all those continuing the struggle for freedom, dignity, and justice. By joining this year’s 60th anniversary Jubilee, Viswanath and Rajagopal affirm HfHR’s unwavering commitment to the ideals of democracy and equal rights for all.

For more information or to request interviews with Sunita Viswanath or Raju Rajagopal, please contact: david@hindusforhumanrights.org

Additional Media:

For further insights, explore conversations between Rajmohan Gandhi, historian and grandson of Mahatma Gandhi, and civil rights leaders Rev. James Lawson and Rev. William Barber. These discussions delve into the enduring legacy of nonviolent resistance, the intersections of caste and race struggles, and the continued fight for justice across generations.